Bristol Classic Bike Show 2017 pt1

The Bristol Classic Bike Show has now been and gone. A chilly and rainy weekend but, hey, what can we expect - it is early February. Thankfully most of the show is indoors even if the halls at the Bath and West Showground are slightly drafty and with a faint whiff of cattle piss about them.

The autojumble is for the most part trade stands and tool stalls with very little in the way of old bike bits being offered. Stand price and the very excellent (and reasonably priced) VMCC Somerset jumble happening in the same venue just a month later probably contribute to this. The bikes on display were however this year really top notch. Some fantastic and unusual machines and nice to see that a good number were even ridden along to the show. It's heartening that folks are prepared to bring along such exotica as an ex-Lawrence Brough and show it to the public. The Vincent Owners club had a great line up of pre-war HRDs including two immaculate twins. There were plenty of noteworthy stands but the London Douglas Club had some cracking machinery - this year was the year of the pre-war ohv Duggie as there were several in different trims and conditions. It's unusual to see one let alone several. On the subject of speedway machinery there was an immaculate vintage Norton track iron on the Norton Owners Club stand.

I wish I could have taken pictures of more but the nature of a show is such that light and angle is not always favourable for photography but here are a few humble offerings from across the weekend....

I managed to sneak in a few snaps on Friday, the setting up
day, when there were a few less people around and more space.
Here's a lovely little Baker Villiers.

Unusual to see so many Yamaha TDRs together.

TDR line up once more. I've never tried one but I've heard
they are fantastic bikes.

This Lambretta Li125 had been brush painted. The owner
carefully stripped it back to original. Great to see the scoot
in this condition.

Nicely accessorised Norton Commando.

Not my cup of tea but a lot of work had gone in to this
Trident.

The only angle to shoot a Hurricane from.

A brace of Greeves road twins.

Aermacchi Ala Verde.

Douglas 350T, The first post war model and with an engine
derived from Douglas' wartime generator units. A really
interesting design with a lot of cast alloy used. Torsion bar
rear suspension, leading link front and these early post war
models had the 'waffle box' silencer under the engine.

Excelsior Autocycle on the NACC stand.

Francis Barnett Powerbike - note the rocking
fork front suspension.

Very stylish RAP Imperial.

More of the RAP moped.

And another angle on the RAP.

This Panther is so proper it is almost staged. The bloke who
rides this surely wears waxed cotton and smokes roll ups. He
has probably rebuilt the engine at the side of the road with a
new piston he turned up himself whilst on the way up to the
Scottish Highlands to pick up a spare con rod he saw advertised
in Exchange and Mart. He wrote the vendor a letter but got no
reply so thought he would just ride up and see if it was still
available. Excellent bike. I want this. You can't call yourself a
true classic motorcyclist unless you have a bike like this.

The Panther Owners Club stand was indeed a source of many
wonders. Here, a home made Panther-based v-twin in a
Featherbed frame.

The Panther guys don't seem to take themselves
too seriously nor do they treat their machines
as sacred cows. There were plenty of modified
bikes on the stand and several chops.

Hardy Trial 2016

Several weeks before a long distance trial entering seems like a marvelous idea. A day before when I realise that I am woefully ill prepared and time is running out I begin to question my own stupidity. And then on the day when Storm Angus was battering the South of the country I really felt like just turning the alarm off and staying in bed.

The Hardy Trial was doubly challenging for co-entrant Matt who had his CCM pinched from his car's bike rack from right outside his house by three scrotes in a transit van just as he was about to depart from the Midlands with family to spend the weekend of the trial chez nous in Dorset. Matt is gamer than I as, gutted though he was, he simply did a bike swap and loaded up his trusty RE Crusader and brought it down to ride.

As it turned out only our 6am ride to the start was damp and the rain held off for the rest of the day from our 8am flag off onwards. This was doubly remarkable as the following day saw some serious flooding in the area. Sure, the going was very waterlogged but at least we weren't getting wet as we rode.

Bike disaster also befell co-rider Toby as his Honda XL 250 wasn't playing ball on the morning of the trial. That left Dan on his rigid G3L Matchless, myself on Dan's generously lent Bullet (still haven't bought a trials bike since I sold my Bullet, duh!) and Matt on his wholly unsuitable (though veteran of several LDTs) Crusader all riding together.

We made it around the course without major mishap. Many sections were footed as you might expect ploughing around on a heavy antiquated behemoth trying to cut it with Beta Alps and Gas Gas Panteras but we had fun and didn't break any bones so overall a top result.

The Hardy goes through some stunning scenery, the distances between sections are not too great and it makes for a properly enjoyable day out if this is your kind of thing. Totally recommended.

Dan eyeing up a tricky section on his Matchless.

Fellow competitors on suitable bikes....

The Matchless is going well here.

And not so well here. Dan did alright in the end though and
got top in class, albeit a class of four. I fell off in the same place
about two minutes later.

Not something you see often. Greeves Sports
Twin rolling chassis with BSA A7 motor.

Shiny classic Suzuki out having some fun.

The BSA Greeves again. Beeves? Greeser?

Yours truly, looking in control but in reality just on the verge
of binning it.

Royal Enfield Crusader way away from its natural habitat.

1962 Greeves Scramblers

Brochure for the Greeves 24MD and 24MDS scramblers. The difference between the MD and the MDS was that the MDS had Greeves' own design of alloy barrel and head with accompanying Amal carb and a claimed extra 4bhp. The MD made do with the standard Villiers supplied iron barrel. Both bikes were 249cc and used the Villiers 32a motor.

1962 Greeves scramblers brochure page 1.

1962 Greeves scramblers brochure page 2.

Greeves Scramblers Brochure 1963

Two page brochure for the 1963 Greeves 24ME, 24MDS and 24MD scramblers.

Greeves Scramblers brochure 1963 page 1.

Greeves Scramblers brochure 1963 page 2.

Fifties scrambles meet

Terrible photo but interesting just to see the field in a late fifties / early sixties 250cc scrambles event. Looks to me like the majority of the runners are Greeves.

Ear, ear! Loads of Greeves.

Greeves 24TE and 24TES Scottish brochure 1962

Brochure for the 1962 Greeves trials models 24TE and 24TES. The TE had an iron barrel and the TES was fitted with Greeves' own alloy barrel and head. The bikes were popularly known as 'Scottish' models though there is no mention of that name on the brochure. The engine was the Villiers 32A 250cc, there was also a 20TE iron barrel model fitted with the Villiers 197cc 9E motor.

Great bikes, I've used a Scottish in the Edinburgh trial and finished though without award. I also had a crack at the Exeter less successfully. To be honest the Villiers motor isn't really the right tool for a long distance trial. To gear it and have a high enough state of tune to cover distances between sections you have to give up a lot on tractibility. I found the engine baulked a lot on the hills. Having said that some guys compete on Francis Barnetts so maybe I should persevere and find the right level of tune...

Greeves Scottish brochure page 1.

Greeves Scottish brochure page 2.

Greeves Silverstone 24 RAS brochure 1963

Brochure for the first model Greeves Silverstone clubman racer.

1963 Greeves Silverstone RAS brochure page 1.

1963 Greeves Silverstone RAS brochure page 2.

1963 Greeves Sports Roadsters brochure

It's in the title, here's the brochure for 1963 Greeves Roadsters. The quirky DCX is in the range. The banana yellow and egshell blue colour scheme is an aquired taste but presumably looked good at the time.

1963 Greeves Roadsters brochure page 1.

1963 Greeves Roadsters brochure page 2.